How Could I?
by VengefulPretzel
Summary: When unexpected news rocks Beca to the core, who will be there to pick up the pieces?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

**Beca**

Ugh. Why the hell were there so many movie soundtracks in a radio station? She snuck a glance over at Jesse, who was whistling unashamedly as he stacked CDs. Sure. No doubt his heart exploded with little rose petals of joy every time he saw the _Sound of Music_ tucked away on one of the shelves. Where was she even supposed to file this thing? There wasn't an artist (or anything that indicated it belonged in a radio station) shown on the cover and how was she meant to know if you file _The Unbearable Lightness of Being _under 'T' for 'The' or 'U' for 'Unbearable'?. The latter is definitely where she would file this day; she was stuck here with bloody Snow White (no one is meant to 'whistle while they work') when she could otherwise be mixing, or _not_ doing cardio.

Actually, now she thought about it, for the first time in God knows who long, Beca didn't feel like doing anything involving a computer screen, her splitting headache had seen to that. She hadn't even been drunk last night, yet she was rewarded with a shooting pain in her skull which rivalled any hangover. Shoving the offending CD randomly onto a shelf, Beca pushed her trademark heavy duty headphones onto her head) and selected a track that didn't make her want to slit her throat, unlike Jesse's inane whistling. In retrospect, loud music probably wasn't the best idea given the searing pain in her head and, taking the sharp increase in intensity as confirmation, quickly pulled them off, slamming them down on the counter, breathing heavily.

**Jesse**

Had Beca not had her eyes tightly squeezed shut, she would have noticed Jesse look up at the noise, shock quickly turning into concern at Beca's appearance. She was facing away from him, one hand on the counter, leaning heavily down on it, the other at her head. His whistling had now ceased and, without it, her loud gasps filled the air, reverberating around the room. A feeling of uneasiness settled in his stomach; Beca was so concerned with putting on this badass persona-something had to be really wrong. Just as Jesse opened his mouth to ask if she was OK, Beca's arm suddenly gave way and she plummeted to the ground, landing with a sickening thud. Shock flooded through him, quickly followed by fear as he rushed towards her. Just as he'd reached Beca's side, she began to shake violently; every inch of her body was in spasm, her eyes rolled into the back of her head. He could deal with her fainting, but what the hell was he supposed to do with a fitting Beca? Jesse scrambled up and bolted to the door, yanking it open.

"Help! Jesus, somebody, anybody!" he yelled out to the surprisingly under-populated quad. Clearly his voice hadn't rung out as loudly as he'd hoped when only a few people in close proximity turned towards him, none of them looking particularly concerned. A sharp tugging on his arm spun him round to the left and he was met with a tall redhead who he vaguely remembered being in the Bellas, Chloe or something?

"What is it? What's wrong?" Her blue eyes filled with concern as they drifted towards the radio station, "is it Beca?". In answer he grabbed her arm and turned back towards the radio station with her right behind him, hurrying towards Beca who was still shaking violently. The girl, Chloe (?) rushed towards her, arranging her limbs in what Jesse knew to be the recovery position and elevating her head slightly.

Damn. The recovery position. Why the hell didn't I think of that?

"What happened?" She asked, directing her question at Jesse, yet her attention never leaving Beca's still trembling form.

"Uh…Um… I don't know, I heard this crash and I looked up and she… she was standing funny, like in pain you know? Then she just went down and started doing that," he gestured wildly at Beca to make his point.

"Did you phone an ambulance? Or her dad?". He hadn't , he'd just panicked and ran for help.

"No…I don't think she would want her dad, she went crazy at me after the whole 'calling him to bail her out thing'." Wow, was that only last week? That seemed ages ago now. "And I didn't think to call an ambulance," he added.

"Maybe you should. And her dad too, he needs to know about this." Jesse nodded his head in agreement and pulled out his mobile, dialling 911.

**Chloe**

Out of the corner of her eye, Chloe saw the guy (Jesse was it?) dial for an ambulance and was aware of him speaking, just on the edge of her hearing. Her focus was on Beca. Several times throughout her medical course she had questioned why she chose it, but today, she had never been more grateful for her decision. Chloe wasn't entirely sure how long Beca had been fitting for (she guessed a few minutes) but the intensity of her seizure didn't appear to be lessening. At all. She gently lifted Beca's hand into her own and rubbed small soothing circles on the back of it, whispering reassurances into her ear.

"The ambulance is on its way." Jesse's voice cut through Chloe's thoughts.

"Ok, well that's good…listen, I'm going to phone her dad." He opened his mouth to protest but Chloe got there first. "I know what you're going to say, but this could be something really serious…he needs to know." She took his silence as confirmation and slipped Beca's phone out of her pocket. Locked. Password required. Shit. Why did Beca have to be so…Beca? "Do you know her password by any chance?".

Jesse looked surprised. "No…uh…she wouldn't tell me something like that... She's not even talking to me…" His voice trailed off.

"Well she didn't tell me either so we're screwed!" Annoyance at the frustration of the situation and Jesse's lack of answers led Chloe into a furious silence. This wasn't like her. She was normally so bubbly and taking everything in her stride but this…this couldn't happen. Beca was going to be fine, right? Pushing that unpleasant question from her mind, she focused on trying to formulate a way of getting hold of Beca's dad. She could phone Aubrey, but what could she do? Plus she was in her Comparative Literature class. Wait. Wasn't that the class Beca's dad taught? Praying silently, she hit speedial and prayed Aubrey would actually have her phone on.

Voicemail. Damn.

She could hear sirens in the distance, definitely a good sign; Chloe had no idea how to stop this seizure and was slightly panicking that it wasn't relenting. Were they meant to last this long? Her phone buzzed and Chloe rushed to answer it, Aubrey's voice filling her ear as soon as she hit the button.

"Aca-scuse me?! Why on earth were you phoning me in the middle of a lecture?! It was so embarrassing Chloe! Everyone around me turned to stare and Professor Mitchell was clearly irritated with me. I haven't been this humiliated since last years' ICCAS, I had to make up some lame excuse about need-"

"Aubrey!" Chloe all but shouted to drag her out of her rant, and making Jesse jump in the process. "Would you just listen? I'm at the radio station, Beca's having a seizure, the ambulance is on its way but you need to tell her dad." Silence. "OK?"

"Right…Um…Ok right, her dad Ok I'm on it…Chloe…uh…is she alright?" It was Aubrey's shaky tone of voice and lack of her usual confidence more than anything that caused the barely supressed fear to well up inside Chloe and tears to spring to her eyes.

"I don't know Bree, just get him here please." She choked out.

"I will." There was a brief pause. "It's going to be Ok Chloe."

"Yeah…um…I gotta go," Chloe hung up, a silent tear sliding down her cheek.

**Aubrey**

Fear flooded through Aubrey. Beca was going to be OK right? She wasn't particularly fond of her but Chloe cared enough about her for the both of them, and she didn't really know Chloe would handle it if anything…happened. She had a habit of getting attached to people and for whatever reason, Beca more so than others. Taking a moment to compose herself and ensure that she was not about to decorate the floor with her breakfast, Aubrey took a deep breath and headed back into the lecture hall. Professor Mitchell paused as she entered, eyes showing a hint of annoyance and indicating that she should sit down rather sharpish. Better do this quickly.

"Professor Mitchell, could I have a word with you outside please?" her voice rang far more confident than she felt, cutting through the silence.

"I'm kind of in the middle of a lecture here," he gestured towards the board, then towards the sea of students, as if she hadn't been among them not 5 minutes ago.

"Sir this is really important," she paused, considering how much to give away in a room full of students, "it's about Beca." His eyes widened and quickly made his excuses, hurrying out of the hall with Aubrey.

"What about her? What's happened? Has she been arrested again?"

"No sir, she's had a seizure, you need to come to the radio station." He froze.

"Ok, right, um…let's go." He gestured for her to lead the way and they hurried down to the radio station which was only a short walk away, but seemed to take far longer with Professor Mitchell's extensive questioning and Aubrey's short replies since, in reality, she didn't know anything.

An ambulance was parked outside the radio station when they arrived and a gathering of nosey students had formed around it to locate the source of the drama, chatting loudly.

"Don't you all have something better to be doing?!" Professor Mitchell's authoritative voice cut through the hubbub and the students quickly dispersed, looking sheepish. He jogged to the door and yanked it open, a paramedic visible through the window, talking to that Jesse kid from the Treblemakers. Aubrey hung back, feeling awkward, as her role had been fulfilled and felt certain that Beca wouldn't really want her there, nor did she particularly want to be and it wasn't like she could do anything to help. But, having said that, she didn't really feel she could just go, Chloe was going to be shaken up and her lecture was now non-existent, so Aubrey leant against a nearby brick wall and waited.

She didn't have to wait long, however, when the door opened and the paramedics walked out, followed by Beca, leaning heavily on Chloe looking utterly shaken and, for the first time since Aubrey had met her, scared. Chloe had one arm wrapped tightly around Beca's and in turn had brought Beca's arm around her waist, thus preventing her from falling over and making the short walk to the ambulance possible. One of the paramedics opened the back doors and told Beca there was room for 1 person to come with her, to which Professor Mitchell instantly replied that he wanted to. In an instant, Beca's expression changed to one of incredulity and anger which, despite everything, managed to reassure Aubrey as it was far more…Beca, angry and defensive.

"Bit late to pretend you care now isn't it Dad?" A look of hurt crosses his face and looked as if he were to make an equally angry retort when Chloe jumped in.

"How about I go with you Beca?" A look of surprise cuts across Beca's face before she hesitantly nodded her assent and allowed Chloe to help her into the ambulance and onto the gurney, Chloe sitting beside her. Just before the paramedic closed the door, Aubrey saw Beca reach for her hand, Chloe allowing herself a small smile.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: **Thanks to everyone who favourited this story and an even bigger thank you to those guys who reviewed; you're all aca-awesome! To those who were wondering, this is intended as a Bechloe story so just a warning to anyone looking for Jeca-you might want to look elsewhere ;)

Shout out to **Lackluster Brilliance- **your review made my day!

Chapter 2

**Jesse**

Jesus Christ. What the hell was that? Jesse sat down heavily on the station step, trying to wrap his head around what happened. He knew Beca was still mad at him from the whole calling-her-dad-to-bail-her-out-of-jail thing, but she would have told him if she was ill? Right? As far as he knew, he was her only friend (were they still friends?) outside of the Bellas, surely she would have said something? There was always the possibility that she didn't know there was anything wrong…but she had still been in obvious pain before collapsing- she could have said something. Maybe he was just being selfish…he needed to find a way to get to the hospital anyhow…would she even w-

"Jesse!" An irritated and unnecessarily loud voice made him jump and his head snap up to meet a very angry looking Luke. "I asked you to look after the station for 10 minutes; how hard is that Jesse? I tuned in on my way back and heard nothing. Absolutely nothing, just white noise. What the hell happened?"

"I-"

"Actually wait, I don't want to hear your excuses; you're a liability- where's Beca?"

"Listen, Luke man…Beca…she collapsed, had some kind of seizure…I would have been you know…setting up songs otherwise but…I had to get help you know?". Luke stood there stunned, mouth hanging open in shock, all previous grievances gone in the blink of an eye. Despite their constant butting heads, the one thing Luke and Jesse could agree on was Beca and, after a few seconds, Luke regained composure and nodded slightly.

"Alright…yeah…is she OK?" Concern laced his voice.

"Yeah…I mean, I think so…she went off in an ambulance but she was conscious when the paramedics got here so…"he trailed off.

"Have the rest of your shift off, go and check on her if you want; I know you guys are close." _Were _close? Ugh. It didn't matter if Beca was still mad at him, he still cared about her and damn it he was going to see her whether she liked it or not.

"Thanks man." Luke nodded again and headed into the station, leaving Jesse alone on the step.

**Aubrey**

She stared after the obnoxious Brit as he swaggered back into the radio station. She could see what Chloe was talking about now, when she was moaning about what an asshole he was and how he shamelessly flirted with Beca all the time. To be honest, it was the latter that previously made Aubrey almost disregard Chloe's dislike for him, convinced it was just her getting slightly jealous because, although she had never said as much to Aubrey, she _knew _Chloe had a thing for Beca. Even Chloe wouldn't usually jump into a stranger's shower, that particular disregard for personal space was seemingly reserved for Beca only. But seeing the way he was getting at Jesse, going on and on about his precious radio station made Aubrey think that perhaps Chloe did have a point.

Chloe.

Should she go to the hospital? On the one hand, Beca would be less than impressed to see her and there was meant to be a Bella rehearsal in a couple of hours if things got held up…she should probably send out a mass text to cancel; there was no point in having one if Beca and Chloe weren't going to be there and once word got around, the others would hardly be able to focus on basic choreography they couldn't master on the best of days. On the other hand, Chloe might be grateful of some support and, if she went against her better judgement and offered Jesse a lift to the hospital, she would have an excuse to be there and could easily leave again if her presence was unwelcome. Besides, casting a look at Professor Mitchell leaning heavily against a wall, it wasn't like she had anywhere to be.

Making a decision, she pushed herself off the wall and strode purposefully over to Jesse.

"Do you intend on going to the hospital?" She asked clearly, her voice not betraying any emotion, just like her daddy taught her.

"Um…yeah…I mean, I'll need to figure out some kind of transport but…" he then proceeded to fumble around for his phone, presumably to call a taxi. She rolled her eyes; here she was trying to offer him a lift and he was too dense to realise.

"Well, as is the norm, my car does have the facility to seat multiple people so if you wish to travel to the hospital without the excessive charge usually associated with a taxi, you may ride with me." He cracked a smile, despite the less than amusing circumstances.

"How did you say all that in one breath?" He asked incredulously, earning him another eye roll.

"Are you coming or not?" He nodded vigorously, scrambling up, giving Aubrey a half-hearted mock salute.

**Beca**

She had no idea what made her do it…and yet here she was, bloody holding hands with Chloe. _Chloe._ One moment of weakness brought about by yet another barely avoided argument with the man who sporadically decided to behave somewhere in the realms of what could be considered general fatherly behaviour and here she was attaching herself to _Chloe _like a bloody limpet. Obviously, being Chloe, she merely smiled at her, nothing like the predatory, slightly creepy smirk she offered in the shower, but a warm smile accompanied with a gentle squeeze. _Why?_ That was the only thought in her mind as, of all things, Beca blushed. _Blushed. _She couldn't remember having blushed in her entire life. Ever. Not even in the aforementioned shower incident, that was just a whole load of yelling and concentrating on not looking…_there…_and now we have further blushing. Chloe giggled softly.

"Ooh Beca, hand-holding _and _blushing?! If you listen very carefully," she paused, face scrunching up as she pretended to concentrate very hard on listening, though Beca could hear nothing other than the roar of the ambulance's engine.

Shit.

She was in an ambulance. She'd almost forgotten, what with the distraction that was Chloe Beale, and was struggling to recall exactly what had happened at the station. She'd obviously had a collapse of some kind and remembered opening her eyes to Chloe kneeling over her, a panicked look in her eyes, but before that…nothing. Weird. She was pulled from her reverie by a slight clearing of a throat and her eyes snapped back up to Chloe, her expression torn between expectancy and amusement. "Ok you didn't have to put _that _much effort into listening" she said drily, quirking an eyebrow. Beca shrugged sheepishly.

"Sorry, mind's somewhere else," she muttered.

"Given what's going on, I guess I'll let it slide just this once," she winked, "I was only going to say that if you listen very carefully, you can hear the sound of your so-called bad-ass reputation crashing to the ground."

"Sarcasm huh? I must be rubbing off on you." A pause, Chloe's smile dropped slightly.

"Seriously though, how are you feeling?" Well that's a hell of a question; I didn't _know _how I felt, only that it was extremely embarrassing to be carted off campus in an ambulance in front of a load of gossipy students that she had to at least cross paths with on a daily basis. Not to mention the fact that she'd grabbed Chloe's hand…that she was still holding. Gently removing her hand from Chloe's, Beca shrugged non-committedly.

"Fine I guess." Chloe rolled her eyes.

"Yeah Beca I'm not buying that; you just had a _seizure_- you can't be telling me you just somehow 'magically' feel fine- I was scared out of my mind!"

"Well I'm sorry I can't give you a nice break-down of my post-seizure symptoms for you to analyse Chloe- I don't even know what happened!" Beca snapped, immediately regretting it as Chloe's eyes cast downwards and focused on a seemingly very interesting spot on the floor.

"I know Beca, and I'm sorry if I pushed you too far but…I was so scared," she whispered. Guilt flooded through Beca as she realised how upset her behaviour had made Chloe after she'd been there for her at the station, prevented World War 3 with her dad and even accompanying her in the ambulance.

"I know, I'm sorry Chloe…this is all just too much at the minute…but you know, thanks for, you know…being here and…stuff," Beca finished lamely. Bright blue eyes shot up to meet hers and Chloe gestured towards Beca's hand, the intention clear. With only a moment's hesitation, Beca nodded and Chloe leant over, pulling Beca's hand into her own, silently reassuring her in ways Beca didn't think words could. A sense of security was all Beca felt at the physical contact now, and she leant back against the pillows, eyes closed, trying to process her thoughts.

**Chloe**

The ambulance slowed to a halt.

"We've arrived miss, if you just want to hop out." The paramedic opened the ambulance doors and gestured for Chloe to get out, who gently squeezed Beca's hand and quietly murmured that they'd arrived at the hospital.

No response.

Chloe would have panicked, had she not been aware of Beca's slow and deep breathing that indicated she'd fallen asleep. Smiling to herself, Chloe reached over to Beca's shoulder and gently shook her awake, Beca's eyes shooting open.

"Hey sleepy-head, we're here." Beca grinned sheepishly at having fallen asleep but took the hand Chloe offered to pull herself into a standing position.

"Miss, you don't have to get up; we can wheel you in there."

"Nah. I'd rather walk, that thing is humiliating." It soon became apparent that that wasn't going to be a possibility as Beca's legs buckled and Chloe found herself supporting more or less the entirety of Beca's weight. The paramedic raised an eyebrow and gestured towards the wheelchair that had been helpfully provided by one of the nurses who had come out to meet them. "Fine." Chloe chuckled at Beca's begrudging acceptance of any assistance but immediately sobered once Beca shot her a glare.

As they entered the hospital reception, it became apparent that Beca and her designated nurse ("Hi, I'm Wendy!") were not going to get along well and Chloe prayed that her doctor would be a little less…full-on. The police might not be quite as lax if Beca brutally murdered 'Wendy'…though Chloe wouldn't really blame her.

"So what we're going to do is get you into a gown and pop you down here and then I'll get the doctor to come and have a look at you, you're really lucky you know, Doctor Simmons is-" Chloe didn't really pay attention to exactly what Doctor Simmons was, but instead exchanged amused glances with Beca and raised eyebrows. Well, Chloe was amused, Beca was glaring and mouthing something Chloe didn't quite catch. Unfortunately, the lovely Wendy did and stopped talking quite abruptly, lapsing into silence for the first time since they'd arrived at the hospital and stepped out of the cubicle quite hurriedly, drawing the curtains.

"What did you say?!" Chloe managed between fits of giggles. Beca shrugged, a smirk gracing her features.

"Oh you know, something along the lines of 'if she doesn't shut up in the next 5 seconds I'll take this needle and-' then she kinda saw me," Beca finished, looking rather too amused for Chloe to think the shame in her voice was genuine and was proved right when Beca shot her a wink and smirked again. Chloe grinned back at her, dissolving into giggles once more. "I'm just gonna get changed now," Beca gestured to the gown with a vague air of disgust. Chloe didn't move immediately, not really registering what she said. "Chloe!" Beca said with a pointed look towards the curtain.

"Oh."


End file.
